That was when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school.
At the time, I was delivering the morning paper.
At one of the houses, there was an old lady who cleaned the front door every morning.
Every morning, when I said “Good morning,” she would say, “Thanks for your hard work,” and give me one of her two bottles of Yakult.
I was always looking forward to that.
One day, I greeted the old lady as usual, but she did not reply.
She usually greeted me with a smile, but she didn’t even turn around and was silently cleaning the entranceway.
I thought something was wrong, but I finished the rest of my deliveries that day and left.
The next day, I arrived at the old lady’s place to greet her, but again she had not answered me and was cleaning up. On the case next to them were three bottles of Yakult.
I couldn’t drink them without telling her, so I left that day too.
The next day, the old lady was not there.
And the next day…and the next day…and two or three days later, still no sign of the old lady.
The mailbox was full of newspapers, so I posted the newspapers through the front door. The number of Yakults had also increased.
I left that day without paying much attention to it, wondering if she went on a trip or something.
I went back to the store and told the manager of the newspaper shop about it.
He said, “Oh, that old lady gives you Yakult, doesn’t she? I remember that she lived alone. I’m worried about her. I’m going to call the police and have them make the rounds.”
The next day, I went to the newspaper shop to make a delivery.
The manager said, “XX-kun! You don’t have to go delivering the morning paper that old lady’s house anymore.”
I wondered why. I finished my delivery and returned to the store, where the manager said to me
He said, “You know, that old lady is dead.
The police are checking on her now, but it looks like she’s been dead for at least a week or ten days.
And then
I thought I would tell you when I came back because you would be scared if I told you before I went to deliver her.
Well, I think the last two days you saw the old woman, she wanted to tell you that she was dead.”
I didn’t understand what he meant at that moment.
Needless to say, when I understood what he meant, I quit my job as a newspaper carrier.
Thirty-one years have passed since then, and I still remember the image of that old lady.
